One Timers

“Hey babe!” Beau calls from the bedroom.
“Yeah?” I respond.
“I was thinking about going for a walk before dinner along the beach.”
“Kay.” I say, coming out of the bathroom.
“Wow, you look beautiful.” He smiles, wrapping his arms around me.
“You look nice yourself.” I say, pressing my lips to his.

In all reality, we’re both just wearing normal clothes. I’m in a maxi dress and sandals, my hair down it it’s natural curls from the salt water. Beau is wearing khaki shorts and a polo shirt. But for whatever reason, I feel like we’re both dressed up fancy. Maybe it’s because all we’ve been wearing the past week is our bathing suits.

After the Pens got eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs and Beau recovered from his wrist surgery, he randomly decided that he wanted to take a vacation. Just to get away for a while. So he called my boss and got me two weeks off and rented us a condo in Cape Town, South Africa.

Why South Africa? Who knows. It’s Beau. He claims it’s because he’s always wanted to go surfing here. The beaches here are one of the most famous in the world for surfing. And of course, the Cali boy that Beau is can’t resist some of the best waves in the world. We’ve both been surfing every day since we got here, and we plan on going every day for the rest of the trip.

So far, we’ve also rode a cable car up to the top of a mountain, went to a jazz festival, and visited an African penguin colony (appropriate, right?). We have plans next week to visit the local winery and explore a couple hidden beaches the locals told us about. Apparently there’s one that’s a hidden gem for surfing and you can only get in if you’re a local or with a local. Fortunately Beau charmed an older lady at one of the restaurants we visited and she offered to take us on her day off.

Up until today, I think the best part of the vacation was visiting the penguin colony. Beau of course loved it, and went around naming each penguin after a certain teammate. We took a lot of pictures for twitter with each one, tagging the guys.

But even as fantastic as that experience was, today was by far my favorite day of this trip. We went surfing (as usual) in the morning, and then later in the afternoon we took a boat out 110 miles to Gansbaii, the great white shark capital of the world and went cage diving. Beau was scared shitless, but I was thrilled. Like I told him, if it wasn’t safe, they wouldn’t let us do it. I think signing the life insurance agreement scared him a little. But we took some incredible videos with our go-pros that I think will be an incredible reminder of the experience for the rest of our lives.

Afterwards, he admitted that it was one of the coolest things he’s ever experienced in his life. The guides were throwing chum in the water, so we saw massive great whites and a couple long tiger sharks. They swam right up to the cage, close enough that if we were completely crazy we could reach out and touch them. It was ridiculously terrifying and absolutely thrilling at the same time.

Now, we’re getting ready for our “fancy” dinner of the trip. We agreed that we didn’t want to dress up often, but we wanted to have at least one nice night together.

“Let’s go, before the sun sets.” He says, grabbing my hand.

Beau leads me out to the beach right outside the building. We both take off our shoes and carry them as we stroll down the beach, hand in hand.

“Thanks for coming with me.” He says randomly. “I know it was totally out of the blue and everything. But it was such a long season and with this wrist and everything... I needed this, you know?”
“Beau, you know I’d do anything for you. Besides, who am I to pass up a free trip to South Africa?” I laugh.

He chuckles and brings my hand to his lips, kissing it. I’m so engrossed in being with him that I don’t even notice that we’ve stopped walking until he leans down to press a kiss to my lips.

I pull back and look down at the sand in front of us. A large blanket is spread out and there’s a basket on it. I can see food and a bottle of wine in the basket.

“I know we had plans to go to that nice restaurant in town, but I changed the reservation to next week instead. I wanted to do something special for you, since you’ve been so amazing with me this season. You’ve stuck by me with all the injuries and everything and I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there for me.”

I wipe a tear forming in the corner of my eye and smile up at him.

“Beau, you don’t have to thank me for being there for you. I’m your girlfriend. It’s my job to be there for you.” I say.
“Well then thank you for being such an amazing girlfriend.” He leans down to kiss me.

We sit on the blanket and he pulls out the wine first, pouring us both a glass. It’s a Moscato, my favorite. He pulls me close and we cuddle together, drinking our wine and watching the sun set over the water. This is easily the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me.

“I love you, Beau.” I say.

Notes

Requested. Hope you enjoy.

A family friend of mine is currently in Cape Town, doing all of these things. Her Instagram pictures are amazing! I would definitely be too scared to go cage diving, but it still looks like a lot of fun.